As a backup, Smart Ass was not used during the initial operation to Hadley's Hope and remained aboard the Sulaco. It was later readied and flown to the moon's surface remotely by Bishop using the colony's transmitter, and was used by the survivors to escape the planet. Smart Ass was ultimately destroyed when the Sulaco broke up in orbit over LV-426.

Contents

History

Rescue from LV-426

With the Marines' primary dropship Bug Stomper destroyed, Smart Ass became the survivors' best chance of escape; however, the transmitter that would normally be used to remotely pilot the ship to the planet's surface had been destroyed in the first dropship's crash. As a result, Bishop had to travel alone to the outside transmitter at the Hadley's Hope colony and patch in suitable hardware to remotely prepare and pilot the vessel.

Once Smart Ass was on the ground, Bishop took to the controls for Ripley's mission to rescue Newt from the colony's Atmosphere Processing Plant, setting down on a landing platform within the structure and waiting for her to return. However, the rapidly overloading reactor soon led the processor to begin exploding all around him, and as the platform became unstable, Bishop was forced to take off. He returned just in time to pick up Ripley and Newt, saving them from the vengeful Xenomorph Queen, and despite colliding with the landing pad he managed to escape the structure and the blast radius before the Atmosphere Processor exploded.

Upon returning to the Sulaco, the survivors soon found that the Queen had in fact stowed away within Smart Ass's landing gear, climbing aboard when the dropship had struck the landing pad inside the Atmosphere Processing Plant. After tearing Bishop in half, the Queen engaged Ripley in a Power Loader, but was ultimately defeated and ejected into space.

Destruction

Although it survived the mission on LV-426, Smart Ass was destroyed during the events of the USS Sephora's mission to Acheron 17 weeks later. The dropship was caught in the blast of an errant hand grenade thrown by Keyes as several Sephora Marines battled a group of Xenomorphs in the Sulaco's hangar bay, heavily damaging it and setting it alight. While it is possible the vessel may have been repairable, it was subsequently destroyed completely when the Sulaco broke up in orbit over LV-426 after sustaining heavy combat damage during a confrontation with the Sephora.

Crew

Trivia

Smart Ass' logo was a chicken holding a large smoking rifle, with the smoke forming a pair of large donkey (or ass) "ears" around the chicken's head. Underneath was the slogan, "We aim by P.F.M.", PFM being a military acronym for "Pure fuckin' magic".

In Aliens: Colonial Marines it is possible to enter the area where the APC is stored in Smart Ass by going up the ramp and crouching under the bottom of the ship. While inside the APC storage area are visible 3D details and the cockpit door.

The step gantry behind the APC ramp has also been lowered

Smart Ass' logo can also also be seen on the ship, but is too low-res to make out "We aim by P.F.M.".

In Aliens: Colonial Marines the 02 printed on the sides of Smart Ass was very lazily applied, with lines easily visible around the green boxes containing the numbers.

Also, in Aliens: Colonial Marines, although the rest of the ship reads 02, the two front landing gear have panels on the front reading 00.

The landing gear also has a light which is just a 2D picture on the same panels.

Also just 2D pictures are the front of the engines, the rear of the tail and the front of the minigun (on the front of the ship).

It appears that Reid's dropship model seen in Mission 1: Distress when inside the umbilical just after the explosive decompression aboard the Sulaco is the same as Smart Ass', as what appears to be Smart Ass' logo is visible on the side of the cockpit.